Panel display rack



July 7, 1964 R. L. slNcLAlR PANEL. DISPLAY RAcK Filed March 7, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 4

FIG. 3

JVENTox Roberf LSIhC/air @ima-@- x. ,fan/.M

FIG. 5

United States Patent O 3,139,985 PANEL DISPLAY RACK Robert L. Sinclair, Dedham, Mass., assignor to The Gillette Company, Boston, Mass., a corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 7, 1962, Ser. No. 178,029 8 Claims. (Cl. 211-59) This invention comprises a new and improved display rack or merchandiser of the panel type well adapted to be placed in the show window or on the counter of a retail store for displaying to customers suspended articles of merchandise, such as safety razor blades and the like. The rack is herein shown as having a multiplicity of projecting pegs or hooks shaped to receive perforated cards carrying articles such as dispensers or packages of safety razor blades and safety razor sets but is, of course, not limited in its application to any specificc field of display or self service.

In general the objects of the invention are to provide a rack of pleasing appearance that may be constructed easily and at little expense from sheet metal, is of light weight and so constructed that it may be conveniently transported in compact arrangement and quickly set up at various heights and secured to a counter or held in place thereon by a cash register, for example, or mounted on a rail or other fixed member.

As herein shown the rack provides a multiplicity of elongated pegs or hooks that in operative position extend substantially horizontally and outwardly from the face of the rack but which, for shipping purposes, may be v moved so as to lie directly on the face of the rack or parallel thereto. This is accomplished by forming the body of the rack from superposed panels of sheet metal having mating beads that together form bearings for transverse shanks of the hooks. Each hook has also an elbow that engages the face of the panel and acts as a positive stop for holding the hook in its extended or operative position.

The rack of this invention is particularly versatile in its provision for mounting. The component panels thereof are formed with mating channel-shaped ribs arranged in parallel relation at different levels and provided with registering holes in their upper and lower walls Whereby the rack as a whole may be supported by upright retaining pins inserted in the perforated ribs at substantially any desired spacing and at various heights.

These and other objects and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings in which- FIG. l is a View in perspective of the rack shown as mounted on operative position on a pair of standards,

FIG. 2 is a view in end elevation partly in section on the line 2-2 of FIG. l,

FIGS. 3 and 4 are detailed views of one of the standards, and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view on a larger scale showing the manner in which the hooks are mounted.

The body of the rack as herein shown is formed from a front panel 10 and a rear panel 11 of sheet metal superposed and bound together by rolled flanges at the top and bottom edges of the panel 10 and by upright end bars 17 permanently united to the superposed edges of the panels. The panel 10 has formed therein a pair of transverse beads 12 and 12' located in spaced parallel relation and the rear panel 11 has mating beads 13 and 13'. The beads are of approximately semicircular contour and together form bearings for the transverse shanks 21 of a series of hooks as indicated in FIG. 5.

3,139,985 Patented July 7, 1964 pIce The front panel 10 has also formed therein channelshaped ribs 14 and 14' rectangular in cross section and spaced one above another. The rear panel 11 has mating ribs 15 and 15' formed therein. In the upper and lower walls of these ribs are formed vertically registering perforations 16 and 16' for the reception of upright retaining pins 29 on supporting standards 23 or pins 32 on standard extensions 31.

A sign panel 18 of sheet metal is supported by wires 19 above the top edge of the panels 10 and 11 and may be used for advertising text and price information.

The rack is herein shown as equipped with upper and lower rows of outwardly projecting hooks 20. Each of the hooks has a transverse shank portion 21, FIG. 5, designed to fit in bearings formed by the transverse mating beads 12, 13 and 12', 13'. Both lines of beads on each panel 10 and 11 are interrupted at spaced locations to permit the insertion of the shank portion 21 of a hook, the interruptions in one bead straddling the interruptions in the mating bead. Each of the beads is provided with a protuberance 22 within the interruption of the mating bead on the other panel to form a stop to prevent accidental withdrawal of the shank 21 from its bearing while permitting it to be inserted or removed with moderate force. Each of the hooks has a downwardly extending elbow designed to act as a positive step by engaging the face of the panel and holding the hook in substantially horizontal position as shown in FIG. 2 while at the same time leaving the hook free to rock or swing upwardly in the direction of the arrows. Accordingly for shipping purposes the hooks may be all swung to lie in position substantially parallel to the body of the rack thus providing a compact and conveniently handled assembly whereas all the hooks may be simultaneously brought into operative position by merely temporarily tipping the rack in the right direction. Either or both panels 10 and 11 may be provided with hooks 20.

The rack as thus far described is particularly useful in displaying perforated cards 35 such as those indicated in dot and dash lines in FIG. 2, each having an attached package or dispenser of razor blades on either or both panels 10 and 11.

The rack as a whole may be mounted at various heights by means of upright standards 23 herein shown as comprising a pair of upright metal straps or bars 24 secured together at their upper ends and held apart at their lower ends by a U-shaped spacer 25. A clamping bolt 26 is threaded into one branch of the standard and may be used to clamp the standard to a rail or other fixed member or to spread apart the lower ends of the straps. Alternately the lower end of the standard may be inserted in a socket 27 formed integral with an extended base plate 28 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The base plate 28 may be screwed to the supporting surface or inserted beneath a cash register for example so as to be held in place thereby.

To the upper end of the standard is secured a slightly offset vertical retaining pin 29 and this is adapted to be inserted in any selected hole 16 or 16' in either of the ribs 14-15 or 14'-15'. In FIG. 2 the retaining pins 29 are inserted in the holes 16' of the lower rib 15'. The rack as a whole may be mounted at a lower level by insetting the retaining pins 29 in the holes 16 of the upper ribs 14-15. Provision is further made for a much higher mounting of the rack by employment of the extension pieces 31. These are channel-shaped in cross section and taper upwardly to a retaining pin 32. Each extension is provided at its lower end with a cross pin 33 which acts to make a tight fit When the extension piece is mounted upon the upper tapering end of the standards as shown in FIG. 4.

Having thus disclosed my invention and described in detail an illustrative embodiment thereof, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A display rack for suspended articles, comprising a body of sheet metal presenting transverse tubular beads and channel-shaped ribs, vertically perforated, a series of hooks having transverse shanks mounted to rotate in said beads, and upright standards having retaining pins arranged to fit in any selected perforations of said ribs for supporting the rack.

2. A display rack for suspended articles, comprising superposed panels of sheet metal having formed therein complementary transverse beads and channel-shaped ribs, the beads being interrupted and at each interruption receiving the shank of a hook having an elbow arranged to bear on the face of the panels, and the ribs being vertically perforated for the reception of rack-supporting pins.

3. A display rack for suspended articles, comprising superposed panels of sheet metal having formed therein mating transverse beads of substantially semicircular cross section, in combination with hooks, each having a transverse shank rotatably journaled in said beads and a down turned elbow shaped to engage the face of the panel and hold the hook in substantially horizontal position while permitting it to be rocked back against the face of the panel.

4. A display rack substantially as described in claim 3, further characterized in that the rear panel is provided with a protuberance located in position to engage the shank of each hook and oppose its removal from the enclosure of the mating beads.

5. A display rack for articles of merchandise, comprising superposed front and rear panels of sheet metal formed with mating transverse channel-shaped ribs hav- 4 ing aligned perforations in their upper and lower walls for the reception of upright retaining pins, and means for holding articles of merchandise distributed before the face of the front panel.

6. A display rack substantially as described in claim 5, further characterized in that the mating channelshaped ribs extend from edge to edge of the panels and are closed at opposite ends by end bars permanently secured to the panels.

7. A display rack for articles of merchandise, comprising front and rear panels of sheet metal formed with mating channel-shaped ribs disposed in parallel relation one above another and provided with registering perforations in their upper and lower walls, whereby the rack as a whole may be supported at different heights by upright retaining pins inserted in the holes of selected ribs.

8. A display or self-service rack for safety razor blades and the like, comprising a substantially rectangular panel of sheet material having a row of hinged hooks mounted thereon and a projecting transverse rib of rectangular cross section with aligned perforations in its upper and lower walls, in combination With rack-supporting standards, each having an upright pin constructed and arranged to fit in any selected perforations of said rib.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,007,489 Reichel Oct. 31, 1911 1,271,508 Hall July 2, 1918 2,246,692 Ohme June 24, 1941 2,659,927 Simpson Nov. 24, 1953 2,702,588 Zummach Feb. 22, 1955 

1. A DISPLAY RACK FOR SUSPENDED ARTICLES, COMPRISING A BODY OF SHEET METAL PRESENTING TRANSVERSE TUBULAR BEADS AND CHANNEL-SHAPED RIBS, VERTICALLY PERFORATED, A SERIES OF HOOKS HAVING TRANSVERSE SHANKS MOUNTED TO ROTATE IN 